Richard and Amelia Brett with their dog, Nell, at the Manor Farm, Arbury Road, 1913. The photograph was taken in the farm's 'Park' meadow - later the site of Manor School/North Cambridge Academy. The Bretts usually had family photographs taken in the 'Park'. 'Arbury', 'Arbury Field' and the 'Stable Field' (on the other side of the Manor Farm 'Drive'/Campkin Road towards Arbury Camp Farm) were cultivated, but the 'Park' was a grassed meadow - often used for grazing. Looking back at how Christmas was celebrated at the Manor Farm on Arbury Road, over one hundred years ago...  The Bretts, Richard and Amelia, lived at the Foreman's/horse keeper's house at the Manor Farm from 1886 to the early 1920s. They had eleven children and many grandchildren.  Richard and Amelia were married at St Andrew's Church, Impington, on 19/10/1880, and moved to King's Hedges a couple of years later. King's Hedges was the name of a f...

Ah, the days of fund raising for the Arbury Adventure Playground on the Nun's Way playing field! Having somewhere safe and supervised for the many children of the district to play was a very high priority. In 1970, 'Arbury's marathon singer' Tony Coleno of Cameron Road, made a record-breaking contribution to the funds... Arbury's marathon singer, Tony Coleno, slept for 18 hours last night after breaking the world record for solo non-stop singing by 12 minutes. He sang from 8 am on Saturday until 11.15 am on Sunday. Mr Coleno, of 46 Cameron Road, survived on a diet of soft drinks and beverages, chewing gum, indigestion tablets and throat spray, and raised almost £100 for the Arbury Adventure Playground Association. The marathon took place at the Jenny Wren public house, Campkin Road. The landlady, Mrs Valerie McCord, said today: 'He was really marvellous, fresh as a daisy even at the end. 'On Saturday night, when he'd been singing for 13 hours, he got up ...

Mrs Hinchcliffe in 1986. Part three of Mrs Grace Hinchcliffe's memories, contributed to the Arbury Archive in the 1980s. Mrs Hinchcliffe (1910-1998) told us of her childhood and teenage years in the Arbury, Chesterton and Vicarage Terrace of the 1910s and 1920s. She was a cousin of Mrs Muriel Wiles, whose memories are also featured on this blog, and the differing personalities and recollections of the two make for fascinating reading. 'Mum was bringing me up to be a young lady. It wasn't a very good idea because we were working class really, but she wouldn't even let me wash up a spoon - bless her! But really I was full of mischief and loved an adventure. 'We had a saying about some housewives who were what you might call "jumped-up". They'd spend out on things to make their houses seem a bit posher, and skimp on necessary things. We'd say: "All fancy net curtains and half a bloater for dinner"! Mum wasn't like that - but she did see ...

A postcard Mrs Hinchcliffe sent to her father, Henry Brett, at 106, Milton Road, Chesterton, Cambridge in 1925. Henry would often accompany his wife and daughter for the first few days of a holiday, but could not leave his smallholding at Manor Farm for long at that time of year. Postmark Guildford, 17 June, 1925: 'Dear Daddy, Just a card hoping you are well. I am surprised you have not written to us. Well, dear daddy, this is all I can say, with love, Grace xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx' Part two of Mrs Grace Hinchcliffe's 1980s contributions to the Arbury Archive. 'Dad was still working his smallholding at Manor Farm. He did that til he died. He built a conservatory onto the back of our house [106 Milton Road], and put a sink in it - because there wasn't one before. We had no water supply in the house. That had to be fetched from a tap in the back garden - I always remember, the tap and the garden shed were covered in hops, growing all over them! The wash house and privy were...

1908: The Park Pasture at Manor Farm (later the site of the Manor School and North Cambridge Academy) was the scene for this happy wedding photograph, taken by Starr and Rignall Photographers of Cambridge and Ely - Thomas Walter Ashman and Louisa Brett were the happy couple. I have marked on the names of the main family members (the bride and groom are self explanatory!) - all who feature in Mrs Wiles's recollections. One of the Manor Farmhouse ('Manor House') chimneys can be seen in the background. Lydia Prevett was then in service there. She was a bridesmaid at the wedding and married Henry 'Harry' Brett in 1910.  The third part of Mrs Muriel Wiles's memories of the Arbury and Chesterton district during her youth. Mrs Wiles (1909-1987) contributed these recollections to the Arbury Archive in 1986. 'Mum and Dad met while Mum was working in Newmarket,' said Mrs Wiles. 'Dad would often cycle all the way from Newmarket to Arbury to visit Mum at Manor F...

A crop of mangolds, swedes and kohl rabi was up for sale at the Manor Farm in Arbury Road in 1917. But how do we know it was Manor Farm - the 'Cambridge Daily News' advertisement simply mentions 'Arbury Road'? The sale was 'by direction of Mr David Camps'. Who was Mr Camps? Where did he live? Many modern Arbury inhabitants may be surprised to learn that they drive over the spot every day! Andy set himself the goal of subjecting the local newspaper archive at the wonderful Cambridgeshire Collection to a microscopic survey many years ago, and collecting any information he found relating to Arbury. The era he selected was 1880 to 1935. These 'snippets' have been tucked away in the Arbury Archive folders until now. The Archivists have used four main tools in researching Arbury history:  Oral history: interviewing various people in the 1980s and beyond and recording their Arbury memories by pen, as a series of quotes. Trying to relay what the person actually ...

So, back to our examination of artefacts from the Arbury Estate and the Manor, Hall and Arbury Camp Farms of years ago. First up this week is Andy's old fifth year Manor School tie. 'All the boys had to wear ties,' says Andy. 'This was a nice option for the last year, a bit more adult and stylish. What did the Manor School badge contain? Andy: 'The badge wasn't to do with Manor Farm, from where the school got its name, but the crown represented the Royal Manor of Chesterton, William the Conqueror had taken a right royal fancy to the Manor of Chesterton, the axe was some sort of indication of Arbury's Roman links - I think it was part of the insignia carried around by Roman magistrates or something. The torches were the torches of learning, and the scroll was again related to the Royal Manor of Chesterton - the charter.' Not even space for a cow or a bull, just a teensy weensy reminder of the farm? Oh well... The second item is a postcard sent to Andy...

Some of the Brett family in the Park Meadow at the Manor Farm on Arbury Road, 12 September, 1908. This became the site of the Manor School. Mrs Grace Hinchcliffe's grandparents, Richard and Amelia Brett, lived at the Manor Farm on Arbury Road and her father, Henry, farmed a five acre smallholding there all his life. Mrs Hinchcliffe was interviewed several times for the Arbury Archive. She had great wit, warmth and a wonderful memory and provided us with a wealth of information about Arbury in the days of the old farms. She was a schoolgirl from the mid-1910s until the early 1920s. On one occasion in 1986, we asked her about Arbury Camp: She said: 'Well, I knew of it and Arbury Camp Farm, up the end of Arbury Meadow Road by Histon Road. I knew there had been archaeologists there because my Dad told me and I knew it was very old and I thought it had ancient tents. You know, it was an ancient campsite. Well, I ask you, daft, wasn't I? I asked my Dad what they made the tents ou...

Back to the Arbury 1930s/40s harvest... The Arbury Part Three By Gordon Cardinal The carts used were the two wheeled tumbrel carts. The sheaves would be pitched onto the cart with a long handled pitching fork as the cart moved from one 'stook' to the next. Whoever was leading the horse had to call to the man on the cart 'HOLD TIGHT!' as the cart began to move to the next stook - so the cry of 'HOLD TIGHT!' could be heard all around the Arbury fields. After carting the corn, some fields would be gleaned with a spring tied horse rake and gathered up for the farm chickens. Gleanings were the ears of corn not picked up by the binder. If you didn't want anyone to glean your field, two sheaves of corn were left standing in the field.  That was the sign for 'No Gleaning'. Some of the Manor Farm corn was stacked in a field along Arbury Road, but most of the small holdings stacked their corn in the Rick Yard. All the stacks were built square. One man would be...

Miss Alice Brett of the Manor Farm, Arbury Meadow Road, circa 1913. There were smiles in one old Arbury family when Campkin Road, the first road in North Arbury, based on the route of the Manor Farm 'Drive', was named after Algernon Sidney Campkin, local businessman, magistrate, councillor, and one-time mayor. Why was that? Well, let's take a trip back to old Arbury... Miss Alice Brett, always known as Maud by her family and fiends, was a lively, kindly and fun young woman - she is remembered to this day for her kindness and good humour, and for being what one family member described as: 'The ideal sister, wife, mother and friend'. Being lively had its disadvantages when you lived out on the Arbury Meadow Road in the early 20th Century, and Alice, a daughter of Richard and Amelia Brett of the Manor Farm, suffered one night simply because of a missing bike lamp, her determination to enjoy some of the fun Cambridge activities of the time, the lack of buses, and the di...